The traditional concepts of a good golf swing involve a series of interrelated and interindependent actions on the part of the golfer. While no two golfers who possess a great amount of skill have identical golf swings, there are certain things involved in a good golf swing that a golfer must either do or not do. For example, it is often taught by golf instructors that a right-handed golfer should keep his left arm straight during the back swing and through impact of the golf club with the golf ball being struck.
The well executed golf swing involves hand-eye coordination. Therefore, a golfer should maintain eye contact with the golf ball during the back swing, down swing and through impact to executed a good swing. As a matter of fact, one of the "bugaboos" of today's golfer is the error colloquially referred to as "looking up". When a golfer looks up during his golf swing prior to striking the ball while executing his swing, he is almost always anticipating the desired flight of the ball and looking in the direction into which he hopes the ball will fly prior to making contact with the ball.
When a golfer "looks up", all sorts of unfortunate or undesirable results may happen. Often, when a golfer looks up, he will raise his head and at the same time raise his upper body a slight amount and the ball will be "topped". Topping the ball, depending on the degree, is a miss-hit in which the ball is struck by the lower leading edge of the face of a golf club. A golf ball struck in this fashion can be cut or otherwise deformed, and the shot flight will be different from that intended by the golfer. Frequently, the flight path of the ball will be much lower in introjectory than intended or desired, and the final results of the shot will be a ball in a position that the golfer did not intend.
Frequently, looking up will also result in what is referred to as a "shanked" shot. When the ball is shanked, the club strikes the ball in that position on the club face where the hosel of the club joins the striking face of the club. In effect, the ball is struck in part by the lowermost portion of the golf club shaft. When this occurs, with the right-handed golfer, the ball flies dramatically to the right of the intended line of flight. All golfers experience this phenomenon from time to time, and its cause is more often than not the golfer "looking up" during his swing. These unintended results frequently happen without a golfer being conscious of the reason for the poor shot, and frequently the faulty shot will be repeated several times in succession before a golfer realizes what he must do to correct his swing to avoid a faulty shot. This is particularly true in the case of a "shanked" shot, and all sorts of disadvantageous results to a golfer's game can happen as a golfer begins "shanking" the ball.
Virtually all low handicap golfers and golf professionals maintain eye contact with the golf ball throughout the swing until after it is struck by the golfs club and even with the spot previously occupied by the ball prior to impact. The maintenance of eye contact requires a steady head position throughout the golf swing and well after the ball has been struck. As a matter of fact, the legendary Ben Hogan authored a book about the game of golf in which he described the desired position of the golfer at the finish of the golf swing. In this book, it is stated that the right shoulder of the right-handed golfer comes into contact with the golfer's chin during follow-through and raises the golfer's head and chin from the position maintained during the swing up to that point. Mr. Hogan states in his book that the right shoulder area of his golf shirts would become worn after playing a number of rounds of golf in a particular shirt as a result of the right shoulder coming into contact with his chin.
In view of the desirability of maintaining a steady head position during a golf swing past impact, numerous methods and devices have been proposed in the prior art to aid a golfer in maintaining his head position steady. An example of such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,102 which illustrates a head movement controlling device that is attached to the golfer's head and is supported by an arm to maintain the position of the attached device to the desired head position. Another device supported by mechanical arms which would indicate head movement on the part of the golfer during his swing is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,558. Both of theses devices are really not practical for a golfer to use except possibly at a golf practice location. In any event, neither of these devices is suitable for use by a golfer on a golf course.
Another device to assist a golfer in maintaining steady head position is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,636,086. The device of this patent discloses a cylindrical body, preferably made of rubber, and having a series of radially extending rubber fingers or projections. The device is positioned under the chin of the golfer and as the player turns his head, the projections or fingers will resist the turning movement of the head, as well as make the player conscious of the fact that he is turning his head. In an extreme case, the head may be moved enough so that the device would fall to the ground. The device of this patent must be positioned for golf swing since it is held in position by the golfer's chin exerting pressure on the device to maintain it in contact with the upper portion of the chest of the golfer.
Another device of the same general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,774,601. U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,329 shows a third form of device held into position between the golfer's chin and chest. These devices are particularly impractical since they require that the golfer maintain pressure on the device that is positioned between his chin and chest during the golf swing. Since the shoulders of a golfer turn during a properly executed swing, there will be relative movement between the golfer's chin position (assuming the golfer maintains a steady head) and the position of the chest which engages the device.
Accordingly, such devices are very impractical as a satisfactory device for assisting a golfer in maintaining a steady head position. Furthermore, all of the devices mentioned above are impractical to use on a golf course during a round of golf, and in some cases would be contrary to the rules of golf. The most desirable answer to the problem of a golfer keeping his head steady so that he does not "look up" requires a device which does not in any way interfere with the golf swing during the execution of the golf swing, does not tend to restrict any portion of the golfer's swing during the swing, and serves as a device for training the golfer to instinctively maintain the desired steady head position. Also, a device of this type should be passive in nature, that is, one which does not require active involvement by the golfer each time he addresses a golf ball and makes a golf swing.